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Archive for December, 2011

Menu Plan Monday

It’s another rainy Monday here in South Central Kentucky with another one to three inches expected in just a couple of days.  This kind of weather makes me want comfort food so bad, but I am trying to behave a little better diet wise before the holiday dinners crank up.   C & I stopped by the grocery store on Saturday afternoon and I stocked up on fresh fruits and veggies for healthy snacks so I will stay away from extra sugar, but it is so hard when there are so many delicious goodies around.  Oh, well, I must pace myself.

Sloppy Joe Squares (new)

Grilled hamburgers with oven baked fries

Cheesy Steak Sandwiches with oven baked fries (2 nights)

Pizza night

Famous pork chops with butter roasted potatoes

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Coca Cola Cake

Way back in July, my in-laws treated me to dinner at Cracker Barrel for my birthday.  The food was so yummy and the highlight was dessert-Double Chocolate Fudge Coca-Cola Cake.  Oh-my-goodness!  It was just a rich and decadent as it sounds.  One day at work, I was talking about this cake and one of my co-workers said that she had made it before.  Silly me had not thought about searching for a copy recipe but I did and found one on MayFlaum.com. This is so good and so decadent and so rich!  I could go on and on, but I won’t.  I will just show you the recipe so you can go quickly and make one for yourself and your family.

Here are two little notes before that though: 1. I left out the pecans and powdered sugar in the ingredients photo.  I didn’t read far enough into the recipe before I took the picture.  Oops!  2. I made this in two 8” baking pans instead of one 9×13” pan because I was sharing with C’s parents.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3 sticks unsalted butter, divided

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, divided

1 1/2 cup Coca-cola, divided

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 13×9” baking dish.  Sift together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.  Set aside.  In a saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 sticks of butter with 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 cup Coca-cola and 1/2 cup buttermilk.  Cook until it boils.

Add the boiled mixture to the flour mixture and combine.  Then add eggs and vanilla extract.  Pour the batter into the baking pan and cook for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean.

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During the last 10 minutes of baking, prepare the glaze.  In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the remaining 1 stick of butter with 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 1/2 cup Coca-cola.  Let this come to a boil and then remove from heat.  Beat in the 4 cups of powdered sugar and stir in the chopped pecans.  Pour the warm glaze over the hot cake.  Let the cake cool for a little while and then DIG IN!!!

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Join me at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday!

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Book Beginnings

Welcome to another edition of Book Beginnings hosted at A Few More Pages.  Join me and other bloggers as we discuss books we have read or are planning to read by listing the first few lines of a book and our impressions of these.

Today I am sharing the first line from Janet Evanovich’s “Smokin’ Seventeen”:

My Grandma Mazur called early this morning.  "I had a dream," Grandma said.  "There was this big horse, and it could fly.  It didn’t have wings.  It just could fly."

This sounds like an odd first line, doesn’t it?  For those of you who have read these books, you will know that Grandma Mazur is always coming off with something off the wall.  I have read all of the Stephanie Plum series and they are always entertaining.  This is not upscale literature, mind you, but it is wild and crazy fun!

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